Divine Miss Grey dominant in Heavenly Prize Invitational

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Divine Miss Grey’s first step was slow. The rest were not.

Recovering quickly from a slow break, Divine Miss Grey was hustled to the front soon after the start by Kendrick Carmouche, and the 4-year-old filly cruised to a 6 3/4-length victory over Holiday Disguise in Saturday’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct.

It was 9 3/4 lengths farther back to Frost Wise, who was followed by Boule and Highway Star, who basically was eased.

The field for the Heavenly Prize scratched down from eight to five. One of the key scratches was Bishop’s Pond, who looked like she could apply some early pressure on Divine Miss Grey.

“I was going – you know me,” said Danny Gargan, the trainer of Divine Miss Grey. “You never take it away from them if you have it. She’s fast, and I want her to stay that way. I think she’s a little better when she’s in front. She gets more confidence. I was happy to see [Bishop’s Pond] not in there because I thought she’d chase.”

Carmouche said that Divine Miss Grey was standing fine in the gate but broke a step to the right when the doors opened.

“The next couple of jumps, I squeezed her, and she put herself right there, and I just let her relax from there,” Carmouche said. “The whole way, you could just feel her striding so perfect.”

Divine Miss Grey set fractions of 23.73 seconds for the quarter, 47.35 for the half-mile, 1:12.56 for six furlongs and covered the mile in 1:38.13. She returned $4.20 as the even-money favorite.

Divine Miss Grey, a daughter of Divine Park, has now won six of 10 starts, including the Interborough Stakes here on Jan. 15, since being claimed for $16,000 by Gargan and Corms Racing Stables one year ago.

Gargan said he would consider either the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison at Keeneland or the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff, both on April 7, for Divine Miss Grey’s next start.

The disappointment of the race was Highway Star, the New York-bred millionaire and four-time graded stakes winner. She chased the pace from the inside under Joe Rocco Jr. but was eased in the stretch and over the finish line.

“It was kind of a weird race because she broke good, and then he took her back; I don’t know if he choked her or not,” said Rodrigo Ubillo, the trainer of Highway Star. “She had trained better than this. He said she pulled herself up on the turn.”

Harlan Punch takes Stymie

Harlan Punch won for the second time in a week, stalking the pacesetting Hit It Once More until the quarter pole before drawing off to a seven-length victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Stymie Stakes.

The win came six days after Harlan Punch won a third-level allowance by four lengths last Sunday. The 6-year-old gelding has won three straight races.

David Jacobson, the owner and trainer of Harlan Punch, said it was his plan to wheel the gelding back in the Stymie after Sunday’s race, which he won fairly easily.

Jacobson thought there might be more pace in the Stymie than it turned out. Hit It Once More, under Rafael Hernandez, set the pace, with Harlan Punch stalking from second after Dylan Davis was able to get him to the outside. The first half-mile went in 47.52 seconds.

Approaching the quarter pole, Harlan Punch took over from Hit It Once More, and with only mild encouragement from Davis, he drew away, covering the mile in 1:38.03. He returned $5.90 as the 9-5 second choice.

“I let him do what he wants to do because he’s a particular horse,” Davis said. “Other than that, I saw Rafael was pretty aggressive; it took me a while to get him off the pace, but once he did, he got into his own stride, and he just took over.”

Backsideofthemoon finished second, three lengths clear of Hit It Once More. Watershed, Fellowship, Vulcan’s Forge, the 8-5 favorite, and Securitiz completed the order of finish.

Jacobson said he may wheel Harlan Punch back in the Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Stakes next Saturday at Laurel Park.

“We’re pointing for it; it’s up to him,” Jacobson said. “We’ll see how he comes out of the race. We might not have seen the real Harlan Punch yet.”